The Special Hell for Traitors
Secret Decepticon Base -- Mirror Universe This base is quite dishevelled and messy, as if hastily constructed. Crates of supplies are stacked in one corners. there are a few scattered recharge berths elsewhere. A pessimistic looking gumby medic hovers near some hastily set-up collapsible medical tables. A battered planning table has several maps pinned to its surface. Contents: Fleet Sunder Geist Decepticon Gumby Medic -- Mirror Universe Obvious exits: leads to Oceania -- Mirror Universe. Cyclonus has connected. Geist is busy at work continuing yesterdays chore. Moving the badly placed medical berths to a more efficient alightment side by side against the one wall they are all connected to for power. The work is slow and tedious, but a Sweep is happy to make things nicer for his friends. He also has been communing on the faction frequency, asking about the status of the two distraught / strange friends. Catechism and Avalanche. Sunder is also busy making certain it's clean in the medical ward. A Sweep actually sweeping! Gasp! He worries about the state Avalanche and Catechism are in. Their behavior is most odd. Fleet stayed back worriedly while Catechism received her repairs, but eventually, the oppressiveness of the place began to get to him and he went out on patrol, attempting to find wrongs to right and that sort of thing. There's just too much out there, but every little bit helps. He steps in and looks around. "I heard you were checking on Catechism. Is she doing any better?" Catechism is convalescing on one of the haphazard medical tables. Living through an attack by The Fallen and the explosion of a Unicron-sized Galvatron has taken a lot out of her. Despite the rudimentary repairs and the semi-spiritual nature of her ailment, she seems to be recovering, and this time, when she surfaces back into consciousness, she seems a bit more lucid. Catechism twitches, peering around. This place is... unfamiliar. How did... oh, Fleet hauled her here, she remembers now. Everyone was acting strangely. The door to the hidden base is flung open, and a shaft of light blasts down into the musty surroundings. Surrounded by this halo of light is a figure wrapped in a hessian cloak. As he steps into the room, it is obvious that it is none other than... Cyclonus! "Catechism!" He raises a hand, a smile across his face. "You had been gone for many stellar cycles, I feared the worst. It is good that you have returned to us" Geist gives the berth he's behind one final alighnment heft and then reactivates it for functional testing. Yup. It works. He switches it off and then looks around to Fleet. "Indeed. It appears her physical recovery is progressing." He turns and sees Catechism stirring. "Ah. She awakens." He turns to Cyclonus, giving a salutory bow of the head. No jibes about the garment or his odd speaking as Catechism might expect of the Geist of her world. Fleet, also, seems to completely accept the smiling, thoughtful Cyclonus. In fact, he greets the purple robot with a grin of his own, although a moment later that grin turns into a bit of a cocky smiles. "Welcome back, boss-man. How goes the letter campaign?" Catechism had come to conclusion, yesterday, that she must be RAM-damaged again. It happens distressingly frequently with her, but... Avalanche seemed to think everyone was acting strangely, as well, and Avalanche doesn't have a history of hitting his head. She stares at the angelic Cyclonus in the Hessian cloak, her processors refusing to process what she's seeing. Oh slag, Lord Cyclonus knows what she did, she assumes paranoidly, and he's going to kill her for her treachery. He's just playing nice so he can enjoy crushing her meagre hopes later. she visibly cringes as he enters, and she is about to gibber an apology to Lord Cyclonus when she remembers that Fleet told her not to call Cyclonus 'Lord'. She lets out a rattling sigh and greets, "Hello... Boss Cyclonus, Fleet, Geist, and... ah.. other Sweep." She looks sheepish - she never could tell the Sweeps apart well. Cyclonus smoothly sits at his desk, placing a pair of electronic spectacles on his nose. "The campaign goes well Fleet, in my wanderings I have already composed several devastating paragraphs." He steeples his fingers and smiles at Catechism. "But Catechism, it has been so long, /too long/ since we have spoken! You must be confused, shocked at some of the changes that have taken place. Well do not fear, all is logical." Geist watches Catechism. The Sweep tending to be not quite as trusting and naieve as some of the more passive Decepticons. It was Avalanche yesterday that really piqued his suspicions, having used Galvatron's name in the presense of Autobots and then having killed Durango most brutally and readily. So unlike Avalanche. It tied back in to Catechisms behavior. A connection? Something more sinister than mere damage-disorientation? Catechism squints at Cyclonus and snaps off a very stuff, formal salute from where she is sitting on the medical table. Devastating paragraphs? Is Cyclonus practising dark incantations now? He did ally with The Fallen... In a very small voice, she implores, "I... I think I may be RAM-damaged. Please, tell me what I should know?" Catechism clasps her hands together, willing this situation to start making some sense. 'Boss Cyclonus'? Why does she feel the need to assign him a title? And what's with that salute? Fleet finds an armless chair, spins it around, and settles down on it, resting his arms on its straight back. "'What you should know'?" the Seeker asks, confused. He looks around at the others. "That may be easier if I had a better idea of what you don't know. We've taken some losses, sure, but I don't think the general situation's changed /that/ much in the last few months." "Mmmhmm" Cyclonus nods, adjusting his spectacles. "That is indeed possible Catechism, we do not know what happened during your sojurn in space, and from reports, neither do you." He nods to Fleet. "Fleet, even the smallest change may cause confusion. In the cycles since Catechism has gone there have been many propositions and amendments put forth by Councillor Blot to the Galactic Assembly. I have returned from the stars to broker an end to the war on Earth. The campaign on Earth has stepped up, with many human losses and casualties." He nods to Catechism again. "Your internal processors may be damaged, true. It will all come back to you in time though" Geist adds, "The EDC continues to be a thorn in the sides of all of us. The Xabat's may be of the short lived, but they know how to make every day count in their effort against Cybertronian-kind." Councillor Blot? What /madness/ is that? Catechism gapes, her mouth open. Then, Geist finally says something that makes sense. The EDC /is/ a pain, and so is Compton Xabat. She doesn't catch that Geist is implying that Xabat is /in/ the EDC. Raising a hand to her head, she says slowly, "My own history. Could you start at the start? I'm not making sense of much anything, right now, I'm afraid." Cyclonus strokes his chin. "Long term amnesia? It happens though I am afraid I am neither a medic nor a psychologist. Tell us Catechism, tell us what you /do/ remember and then we can piece together the past" Fleet listens quietly, a thoughtful expression on his face that briefly gives way to a quirky smile. "Sounds like you might have hit that cone-head of yours a bit harder than you meant to on landing." He reaches out and attempts to lightly rap on it with his knuckles, then nods towards Cyclonus. "But Cyclonus is right. If you let us know what you /do/ remember, maybe we can fill in the gaps more easily?" Geist moves towards a small energon ration dispenser and ejects one serving. He carries it over to Catechism to help ease her mind with replenishing vigor. Sunder is quietly listening to all this, soaking it up and analyzing. The after-reaction of Avalanche's negative response to his friendliness is still haunting the back of his processor, although he still wants to hug every Decepticon present. So he hangs back, not quite in Catechism's personal space, until it can be determined why she is acting this way. Catechism is startled by Fleet acting so... casual toward her. Really, considering what he did, how he impersonated her and thereby forced her to get this horrendous repaint, how he betrayed the Decepticons... Catechism looks skeptical of the energon offered by Geist and takes it with a trembling hand. Turning her optics off for a moment, she recites, "I was created in a creation factory, one of many. I served the Decepticon Empire, but when the Great Shutdown came, I was cast into deep freeze. I was awakened in 2023, by Terran reckoning. Since then, I have served, and I was recently made Air Commander." Catechism describes a history that never happened here. Here, she was a disposable shocktrooper who escaped her Autobot overseer after attacking him and stealing his whip. There was never a Decepticon Empire, only various rebel cells, one of which she eventually joined, after much internal and external debate. Geist reads the truth in Catechism's voice and comes to a conclusion of two theories. 1. She's been brainwashed somehow. Or 2. She is sane, telling the truth, and not who they thought her to be. He tests something out, using the faction frequency she should be back on now that her damages have all been tended to. "Ah" comes Cyclonus' reply. "Obviously you have been reading too much.. speculative fiction before your accident Catechism. As you can see we are no empire, unless you can count an empire of /friendship/! But it is true that you have been a wise and valued comrade. What do you remember about the time just before you awoke. What events transpired?" Fleet frowns and shakes his head. He protests, "That's not right at all! It's the Autobots who run an Empire... they /call/ it a Republic, but there's no voting involved. Most Decepticons get used as little more than slaves. Labor, disposable shock troopers, are lives used off and tossed aside like so much litter. There's resistance, and some have been members of that resistance from creation... others, like you and I, had to fight our way free before we could see to trying to free others." Sunder shivers. "Not a pleasant fate, that," he murmurs. Catechism cannot hear whatever it is Geist is saying on the factional frequency. It could, possibly, be explained as, having been gone for nearly a month, they rotated the frequency, and she's still on the old version, but while that explanation is tempting, the truth is far stranger. Clearly distressed, she asks plaintively, "My memories are wrong? That's not my history?" She shudders. Then, she recounts to Cyclonus, diplomatically leaving out the details of him thinking that a deal with The Fallen was just peachy, "Sir, E..." Emperor is a no-go, if there is no Empire, "esteemed Galvatron merged with Vector Zeta, an apocryphal creation factory. He exploded. After the explosion, I ended up here." She tries to keep the account very neutral, without her own biases, but... she's really just going to sound like a nutter. Geist is not finished, being thorough, he now uses the shortwave radio. <> "Galvatron... exploded?" Cyclonus raises an optic brow. "I find that troubling Catechism, but it may be that these are false memories. Galvatron is indeed wise and just, and so how fitting is it that in your mind, he becomes a god. The struggle you speak of with the Autobots may be your own internal struggles, but be sated, you are amongst friends. Soon your real memories will return, and these metaphorical ones will fade. Until then, you should rest here" Sunder raises an optic brow. Well, if Catechism's memories are false, there is but two explanations in his mind. The inability to hear the faction channel has many explanations, but incorrect memories are either planted, or the result of not being from this plane of existence. But who would have planted such memories in Catechism. "Are you sure your memories are your own? Not something the Autobots planted as falsehood to confuse you?" Catechism does reply to Geist, <> It's nice and refreshing - no inane banter! She admits, "My memories could be wrong." Either her memories are wrong, or... or... oh, no! What if The Fallen was right? What if she died and went to the special Hell for traitors? She is about to curse, when she remembers a bit of scripture, 'The Protector sat in the pit for forty moonrises. He would not utter a plea to his captors, for then they would have his honour and his soul.' If she really is dead, she can't call for help, or she'll be trapped here forever. She just has to... accept it, she supposes. Cyclonus nods sagely. "Your memories /are/ wrong Catechism, and we must discover together why they are wrong. Is it some Autobot trick to destabilise us, or are you damaged? Do not worry, you will be fixed" Fleet's expression is a concerned frown. He does want to believe that her memories are wrong, too, but... "Why /those/ memories, though? Why not... make her think she's a happy and loyal little shocktrooper, ready to throw herself away for the Republic?" He shakes his head. "It seems so... random." Geist steps away and gives Catechism her space again. He simply nods to her in acknowledgement of recieving her shortrange. His suspicions of her do not change the nature of his compassion, however. She is still clearly in some trouble. Hell is other people. Nice, happy people that make Catechism want to look over her shoulder five times a second to make sure that Scourge isn't there, getting ready to kill her, when the prank is over. Still, Catechism steels herself. If this is the Pit, she must face it with courage and without complaint or plea. At least, she sips on the energon that Geist gave her a while ago, trying to calm down. She replies, "I have no idea, Fleet. Now, the war against the Autobot... Republic? How are we doing? Even if my mind is damaged, my body seems to be working fine. There are so many things I could be doing to assist." Fleet frowns. "Poorly." He glances around the room, knowing he'll be chided for the words, but saying them anyway. "At times, I fear, the dedication some of our members have to peace is so great that they forget that it's worth fighting for." Geist rubs his chin and looks about to each of them. "You know... Kup was a little peculiar yesterday... did anyone else notice? He was... less aggressive. And merciful to Hinder. And speaking of Hinder... Red Alert drove Soundwave and Hinder away from the battlefield and then let them go." Fleet's optics open wide. "Kup's /back/?!" he exclaims, startled. Catechism is boggled. Decepticons so dedicated to peace that they forget to fight? Oh, she'll play along with this idea that her memory is broken, but she is swiftly becoming more and more convinced that this is the Pit. Decepticons are warriors! She's never heard of one dedicated to peace. Some more peaceful than others, certainly, some more subtle, but all were fighters, be it in the sciences, in politics, or directly on the battlefield. At the mention of Red Alert, her optics flash with ire. She agrees, "That does sound odd. I can't imagine Red Alert ever working with Soundwave." She doesn't mention that being merciful is a typical Autobot thing, or so she thinks, and she has to bite her lip to not ask about Fleet's remark. Geist adds. "Yes... Kup.. and Catechism here... not dead.... That Red Alert... also got between Kup and us Sweeps for a moment there trying to stop the fighting before Soundwave hit Kup from behind. Then Red Alert provided that protection from Kup for him." Geist says, "And Kup, again to point this out... didn't take the kill stroke against his opponent." Razorclaw arrives from the Oceania -- Mirror Universe. Razorclaw has arrived. "Well, Red Alert's no doubt just trying to find some new blackmail angle, but the rest..." Fleet shakes his head, eyes wide and concerned. "That Kup is alive is... worrisome. He was an extremely dangerous opponent. That he's... not killing when he has the opportunity... is shocking. Most unlike the stories I've heard of him." The Decepticons are here, gathered roughly about Catechism's med berth. Discussing the matter of strange behaviour and discrepencies in remembered history. Catechism is sitting on a medical berth, looking extremely baffled. An Autobot trying to save people and stop fighting? That sounds completely typical? Why is this concept seemingly so new to the Decepticons here? Oh, right. The Pit. Catechism suspects that pretty much everything strange is going to be explained by this being the Pit and a torture that she must endure for her treachery. She rubs the side of her head and admits, as she has a duty to the Decepticon, even if they are acting like complete whack-jobs, "I... look, I'll be square. Right before I woke up here, a great enemy of the Transformer species told me that I would go to the special hell for traitors. The Red Alert you're describing... he sounds like the Red Alert I know, and he was there when the explosion went now. I think that I may be here as some sort of punishment, and perhaps Red Alert, Kup, and Avalanche are, as well." She holds her cone in her hands. She's not uttering a plea for help! Just explaining what she thinks the situation is. "So, wait a minute... you're saying that you, Avalanche, Kup, and Red Alert are traitors?" Fleet asks, confused and trying to order things together properly. Geist lets the revelation of feelings of guilt process, Catechisms behaviour making much more sense now putting that piece of the puzzle into place. His sense of reasoning brings him to a diagnostic conclusion. "Catechism. I think you need to do something that will prove to you the reality of things. I suggest the following as it is the first to come to mind. You must perform a task that challenges you, and if successful, satisfies you. It is in this, I believe, that you will find a way into seeing things from a not so dour view of this being an afterlife in which you are being served an earned punishment. Does striking a blow against Autobots, as a Decepticon, ring true with your sense of what is right?" Catechism shakes her head and explains, waving a hand, "No, no. Kup and Red Alert weren't traitors, and I don't know about Avalanche." She holds a hand to her forehead, groaning. As Doctor Geist gives her some advice, she easily admits, "Yes! The Autobots must be stopped!" Her optics light up eagerly, and she sits forward slightly on the medical table. Razorclaw walks his way into the medical center and looks at Catechism before looking to Geist. "Autobots try to scramble another processor, Geist?" he says with a bit of a purr even in robot form. Afterwards, he seems quite eager to listen... Geist considers as Razorclaw enters. "Perhaps. We do not know at this time. The time for a strike has come out of necessity. And not just for your sake, Catechism. Yesterday's encounter topside shook the branches. They found us here. They may have missed the presense of this compound, but that doesn't change that they saw many of us in this area. We must make our presense known elsewhere. Thus we will need a target. An objective. Something that will cripple the power the Autobots hold on this world. Slow them down, make them think. And if luck be with us, strengthen our own a little once again." Sunder nods a greeting at Razorclaw, and gives the Predacon a longing look. The Sweep loooooves petting kitties! Catechism is a bit startled by Razorclaw not dissing her in some form, but between angelic Cyclonus, huggy Fleet, psychologist Geist, and nice other Sweep, she is starting to expect that no one is going to act quite the way she expects. 'Expect the unexpected,' seems to be the mantra of this place. She greets Razorclaw shakily with a quiet "hello, Razorclaw." Then, of Geist, she asks, "What kind of installations do the Autobots have?" Fleet stands up and smiles at Geist. "/Finally/! Someone talks of /action/! Yes! The time for glorious deeds of heroics and daring, such as can inspire the masses, is well overdo! I'll come along!" Razorclaw looks to Fleet and his enthusiasm. "I'm all for protecting the masses, Fleet....but an open assault? that would make us the same as the Autobots we are trying to defend the world from......wouldn't it?" Geist strolls towards The Big Board, a console in the middle of the room. He steps carefully over the cables running out of it along the floor and activates the glass like screen. A global map composed of glowing green lines and various coloured dots pinpointing areas of interest appears. "With so many Autobot holdings... we have quite a selection.... but Europe has been a point of our long debated attentions. Crystal City Internment Camp. Razorclaw. You know there are Decepticon slaves working there, yes?" Catechism cannot help but stare at Fleet as if he has grown four more faces. Fleet wants to go be daring and heroic? Then her stare turns to Razorclaw, and she points out, "Force solves a lot of problems. Quickly. What's better, having the moral high ground and letting a bunch of Decepticons," she doesn't /care/ about humans, "die, or cracking a few ener-eggs and making the universe safe for Decepticon-kind?" "No, Razorclaw! No, it wouldn't!" Fleet sighs, exasperated. "Simply using violence, even openly, does /not/ make us Autobots, especially when non-violent means have been attempted and failed. As they have. Repeatedly. The difference is in /why/ we're using the violence, /what/ goal we hope to achieve, /if/ we're conscientious enough in our violence to avoid endangering the innocent - or better, use it to protect bystanders - and if we're willing to stop using violence when it's done with! We spend all our time, talk talk talking about what violence makes us, but what does our inaction make us? What about all those who have suffered and died because we keep. Not. Doing anything!?" Razorclaw smiles to Geist. "sounds like something for the Predacons to help with....but I'm reluctant to leave the wildlife preserve because of Cyclonus' and Tantrum's efforts to restore the lion preserve, which I might add are doing exceptionally well....thanks to Cyclonus and Sunder with their food stores." Catechism wants to facepalm, hard. Predacons too busy saving kittens to go fight? She observes, "If we free our captives brethren, not only will the Autobots be denied their hard work to feed their war machine, but our own ranks will be increased. That sounds like an excellent target for a strike." Catechism may essentially be a bad, overly violent person, but the Quintesson oppression - did that even happen here? - should never again be repeated. Decepticons simply cannot be allowed to be kept as slaves. Geist nods in agreement. The image flickers. He gives the side of the console a light whack with his palm and it restores quality. He then touches the screen on the red European dot. The image alters to a basic outdoor 3d schematic of the camp. Few details are garnered from this except the lay of the land around it and the visible perimeter defenses. "As you can see, our intelligence on this instillation is still greatly limited. We've been reluctant to send in what few spies we have to get in too close. However, from what former captives have relayed to us, we can roughly estimate what is where and what security measures are in place." Razorclaw ponders as he looks at the map. "Where'd we get that map from? Satellite?" Fleet rocks forward on the chair he's in. "There /have/ been escapes," he points out. "If I had still been with them by the time they built up on Earth, I'd have probably been held there. We do have others." Geist nods to Razorclaw. "Some of the information, yes. Some from aerial patrols from long distance. And the rest, as I said, from word of mouth from former prisoners." Sunder looks over at a medtable sadly. One that contains a fellow Sweep. This one was rescued from that terrible Crystal City Internment Camp. And the Autobots had done horrible things to him. His processor functioning was permanently damaged, in an attempt to pacify the Sweep. Just looking at the results of the Autobot's butchery made Sunder sad and angry. Catechism mutters, "I suppose I would have been at that camp, too, Fleet." If that history they tell her belongs to her is really her history and if this is not some strange manifestation of the Pit. She glances over at the Sweep and twitches a bit. More loudly, she asks, "Fleet, would you mind explaining your escape? Your case was different, but it might shed some light on the situation." "I would mind, really," Fleet frowns. "It's not a pleasant memory." Also, his player isn't really up to coming up with something right now. Rampage arrives from the Oceania -- Mirror Universe. Rampage has arrived. Fleet vanishes out of reality. Fleet has left. Mecha-Tiger curls up on a medtable and goes to sleep. Mirror Universe = Message: 24/50 Posted Author M-Decepticon faction board post Sun Dec 21 Geist ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: *.Decepticon From: Geist Subject: Behavioral concerns and memory discrepensies ~text only~ Greetings. I, Geist, have returned from my leave of absense. Nepsa was theraputic. Soon after I returned yesterday, Cyclonus alerted me to sensor readings of not only a strange storm but also psi-readings in the immediate vicinity of our well guarded base of operations in Oceana. Topside I tracked down the source. Whom I found appears to be our Catechism, thought dead after leaving on a recruitment mission to the outer rim almost a month ago. She was damaged and at first appeared disorientated. Soon after communicating with her, others gathered. Among which was Avalanche. And soon after that, a party of Autobots arrived in a shuttle apparently investigating the same sensor readings that originally alerted us to Catechisms return. Violence erupted. And surprisingly, of note, Avalanche was all for this. Most unusual. He found our ways strange, as does now Catechism. After the battle in which Avalanche destroyed Durango, the Autobot aristocrat, the rest of the Autobots fled. Of note, some of the Autobots behaved most strangely. Kup showed mercy. Red Alert appeared to also want to rescue Soundwave and Hinder from Kup even though he passed up his chance to deliver a killing strike. Today, after Catechism had undergone repairs and some restful recovery time, we discussed things with her and discovered her memories of our history do not match ours. And her view is that she is in an afterlife in which she is being punished. Consequently, I have deemed it necessary to her health that we undergo a mission that would, if successful, dispell her dark sense of unreality. As to her identity... I believe she believes she is Catechism. And I also believe it unlikely these discrepensies in attitude and memory are not logical to what brainwashing would be intended to serve. Avalanche should be talked to as well. I am worried about him. The mission mentioned before is a strike and rescue operation that, should any of you volunteer to join in, should come see us at the Oceana base. Myself, Fleet, and two of our Predacons are all versed in the initial stage of planning. Cyclonus, you know me and my methods. We will be efficient and do only what is necessary to liberate our enslaved commrades while crippling their internment camp. Perhaps we should consult our Guide in hiding. It is always good to consult his wisdom. Report ends.